Uniswap News Today: Crypto's Compliance Crossroads: Coinbase's AML Fine and Uniswap's Token Overhaul Signal Sector Splits

The Central Bank of Ireland has fined Coinbase Europe Limited €21.5 million ($24.5 million) for anti-money laundering (AML) violations stemming from technical failures in its transaction monitoring system. The regulator found that Coinbase Europe failed to screen over 30 million transactions-worth €176 billion-between 2021 and 2025, leaving gaps in its ability to detect suspicious activity. The penalty, reduced by 30% after a settlement, marks one of the largest fines imposed by the regulator in the crypto sector and underscores growing scrutiny of compliance practices in the industry Irish Central Bank Fined Coinbase Europe Nearly $25M for AML Violations.

Coinbase attributed the lapses to three coding errors in its Transaction Monitoring System (TMS) that partially disabled five of 21 monitoring scenarios. These flaws, which Coinbase identified and fixed internally, caused certain cryptocurrency addresses-particularly those with special characters-to bypass scrutiny. The company reprocessed affected transactions, filing 2,708 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) totaling €13 million in value, though no confirmed illicit activity was found. Coinbase has since enhanced its TMS testing and oversight to prevent recurrence Coinbase Fined €21.5M in Ireland for Massive Transaction-Monitoring Failure.

The fine comes as Coinbase navigates a shifting regulatory landscape in Europe. Earlier this year, it secured a license under Luxembourg's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and faces new rules banning anonymous wallets. The Irish penalty adds to a broader trend of crypto firms grappling with stricter compliance demands, with the Central Bank noting this is its 162nd enforcement case, amassing over €428 million in fines since 2020 Coinbase Cites Transaction Monitoring Error in $24M Ireland Fine.

The Uniswap token, UNI, has recently seen significant activity as the project moves to overhaul its token economics. The "UNIfication" plan includes activating protocol fees to burn UNI tokens, redirecting trading fees to a "token jar" mechanism, and retiring 100 million UNI—16% of its circulating supply—from the treasury. The move aims to align incentives for tokenholders and liquidity providers while boosting UNI's scarcity. Following the announcement, UNI surged 38%, pushing its market capitalization past $6 billion Uniswap token jumps 38% after fee switch, burn proposal hits the table.

The proposal, backed by Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation, also introduces Protocol Fee Discount Auctions (PFDA) to reward liquidity providers and aggregator hooks to tap into external liquidity sources. Uniswap v4 will evolve into an on-chain aggregator, collecting fees from external protocols. Additionally, the Uniswap Foundation plans to dissolve, with its teams merging into Uniswap Labs, which will prioritize protocol growth over monetizing its products Uniswap Proposes Sweeping ‘UNIfication’ With UNI Burn and Protocol Fee Overhaul.

The dual developments highlight contrasting dynamics in the crypto sector: regulatory pressures tightening around compliance and governance-driven innovation reshaping tokenomics. For Coinbase, the fine signals the cost of operational missteps in a highly regulated environment. For Uniswap, the UNIfication proposal reflects a strategic pivot to cement its dominance as a decentralized exchange while addressing long-standing debates over fee distribution and token value accrual Uniswap soars as leadership proposes new fee switch, $800m burn.